Reel assemblies are commonly used to support and store elongated flexible lines, such as hoses, ropes, electrical lines and the like. Oftentimes, such flexible lines are unwound from a reel, used, and then rewound for storage and/or transport. Commonly, in the example of a garden hose, an individual may unwind a considerable length of garden hose in their yard and deliver water to various areas throughout the yard. When the individual has completed the watering activity, the garden hose may snake along a winding path through the various areas of the yard. To be sure, it is far less common to unreel a length of garden hose directly away from the reel, use it and then reel it straight back to the reel. Reeling the garden hose onto the reel when the garden hose does not extend straight out from the reel may be a difficult task. The individual may need to physically guide the hose with one hand while operating the reel with the other hand in order to evenly wind the garden hose about the reel. This is less than desirable because it greatly increases the force required to operate the reel, which can tire an individual, who is manually operating the reel, or burn out an electric motor. Irrespective of short term concerns, the increased forces on the reel assembly decrease its durability and usability long term. Moreover, guiding the garden hose manually can be a messy annoyance on occasion.
Level-wind systems have been used in the past to help guide hoses as they are wound onto horizontally disposed reels. Such level-wind systems are helpful to users for the simple reason that they do not need to manually guide the hose as it is wound onto the reel. However, the increased forces placed upon the reel assembly due to the hose being wound from an other than perpendicular direction with respect to the reel will still limit the reel assembly's durability and usability on both short term and long term bases.
Prior reel assemblies have been known to use a swivel that permits horizontally disposed reels to pivot into the direction that a hose is being reeled or unreeled therefrom. Such an arrangement provides a limited solution to the problem presented by reeling the hose toward the reel at an angle. However, such an arrangement will cause the reel assembly to track back and forth in response to the hose being wound evenly along the reel in a back and forth fashion. The forces exerted on such reel assemblies and level-wind systems associated therewith place an undue amount of strain on the working components and decrease the usable life of such systems. The agitating back and forth movement of the reel assemblies also tend to cause portable units to tip and fall, which can damage the reel assembly and other articles or individuals near the assembly when it falls. Moreover, prior reel assemblies that use a level wind system and a pivot base, typically suffer from another problem in that the crank handle, which is oftentimes positioned on the side of the assembly, may become positioned between the reel and another object, such as the side of a house, thus making any reeling function awkward at best.
Accordingly, what is needed is a novel reel assembly that greatly limits adverse external forces applied to the reel assembly when a flexible line is wound onto or from the reel in other than perpendicular directions from the reel. However, such a reel assembly should be relatively simple in construction and use.